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A casket is a 
A tall round casket is often called a
Surviving caskets from early periods are often made using precious materials, especially 
The Embriachi workshop in north Italy, and their imitators, specialized in "marriage caskets", presumed to have been presented to a bride-to-be by her new in-laws. These were decorated with carved bone plaques, within a setting of
/ref>
JSTOR
A casket is a decorative box
A decorative box is a form of packaging that is generally more than just functional, but also intended to be decorative and artistic. Many such boxes are used for promotional packaging, both commercially and privately. Historical objects are ...
or container that is usually smaller than a chest and is typically decorated. In recent centuries they are often used as boxes for jewelry, but in earlier periods they were also used for keeping important documents and many other purposes. Many ancient caskets are reliquaries
A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including ''phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it is housed a ''fere ...
, for both Buddhist and Christian relics.
A tall round casket is often called a pyxis
Pyxis is a small and faint constellation in the southern sky. Abbreviated from Pyxis Nautica, its name is Latin for a mariner's compass (contrasting with Circinus, which represents a draftsman's compasses). Pyxis was introduced by Nicolas-Louis ...
, after a shape in Ancient Greek pottery; these were popular in Islamic art
Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across a wide r ...
, often made from a section of the ivory tusk of an elephant.
The term "casket" overlaps with strongbox (or strong box), a heavily-made box for storing or transporting coin and other valuables. These include more metal, in bands or as the main material, and are functional rather than decorative. Though caskets are often regarded as boxes for jewelry, at least until the Renaissance this was probably not a common use, as at least the most serious jewelry was kept in a strongbox.
History
Surviving caskets from early periods are often made using precious materials, especially ivory
Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals ...
, around a wooden framework. In East Asia
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea ...
lacquer over wood is common. The house-shaped chasse is a very common shape for reliquaries in the Early and High Middle Ages, often in Limoges enamel
Limoges enamel has been produced at Limoges, in south-western France, over several centuries up to the present. There are two periods when it was of European importance. From the 12th century to 1370 there was a large industry producing metal o ...
, but some were also secular.
The Embriachi workshop in north Italy, and their imitators, specialized in "marriage caskets", presumed to have been presented to a bride-to-be by her new in-laws. These were decorated with carved bone plaques, within a setting of certosina
''Certosina'' is a decorative art technique of inlaying used widely in the Italian Renaissance period. Similar to marquetry, it uses small pieces of wood, bone, ivory, metal, or mother-of-pearl to create inlaid geometric patterns on a wood base. T ...
inlays in wood, and were produced in the decades around 1400. Later in the 15th century caskets decorated in pastiglia
''Pastiglia'' , an Italian term meaning "pastework", is low relief decoration, normally modelled in gesso or white lead, applied to build up a surface that may then be gilded or painted, or left plain. The technique was used in a variety of way ...
, a type of moulded plaster or gesso
Gesso (; "chalk", from the la, gypsum, from el, γύψος) is a white paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or any combination of these. It is used in painting as a preparation for any number of substrates suc ...
, became common for similar purposes.De Winter, 8-15
The so-called Casket letters
The Casket letters were eight letters and some sonnets said to have been written by Mary, Queen of Scots, to the Earl of Bothwell, between January and April 1567. They were produced as evidence against Queen Mary by the Scottish lords who opposed ...
were allegedly written by Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of S ...
and found in a casket belong to her husband Lord Bothwell. They suggested her complicity in the murder of her previous husband Lord Darnley
Lord Darnley is a noble title associated with a Scottish Lordship of Parliament, first created in 1356 for the family of Stewart of Darnley and tracing a descent to the Dukedom of Richmond in England. The title's name refers to Darnley in Scotl ...
, but may well have been invented by her enemies.
A knottekistje is a Dutch type of wedding casket, typically in silver, given by the bridegroom to the bride, containing coins. They replaced cloth wrappers in the 17th century.Description of a Knottekistje at the Victoria and Albert Museum/ref>
Examples
Some examples have remained unburied from the late Roman Empire. The 4th centuryBrescia Casket
The Brescia Casket or Lipsanotheca (in Italian ''Lipsanoteca'') is an ivory box, perhaps a reliquary, from the late 4th century, which is now in the Museo di Santa Giulia at San Salvatore in Brescia, Italy. It is a virtually unique survival of ...
, 8th century Franks Casket
The Franks Casket (or the Auzon Casket) is a small Anglo-Saxon whale's bone (not "whalebone" in the sense of baleen) chest from the early 8th century, now in the British Museum. The casket is densely decorated with knife-cut narrative scenes ...
and 10th-11th century Veroli Casket are all in elaborately carved ivory
Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals ...
, a popular material for luxury boxes until recent times. Boxes that contain or contained relic
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tang ...
s are known as reliquaries
A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including ''phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it is housed a ''fere ...
, though not all were originally made for this purpose.
See also
*List of caskets
This is a list of individual caskets with articles:
* Shinkot casket, 2nd century BC, Buddhist container for reliquaries, Gandhara, stone
* Bajaur casket, 5–6 AD, Gandhara (now Pakistan), stone reliquary
* Kanishka Casket, 127, Kushan Empire ( ...
*Coffin
A coffin is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, either for burial or cremation.
Sometimes referred to as a casket, any box in which the dead are buried is a coffin, and while a casket was originally regarded as a box for jewe ...
References
* Winter, Patrick M. de. “A LITTLE-KNOWN CREATION OF RENAISSANCE DECORATIVE ARTS: THE WHITE LEAD PASTIGLIA BOX.” ''Saggi e Memorie Di Storia Dell’arte'' 14 (1984): 7–131JSTOR
External links
{{Authority control Containers Reliquaries